The Puppet Master
by darkwinterfrost
Summary: A horrible incident had the residents of a small town deserting it. Fifty years later Mai, Naru, and the rest of SPR stumble across the abandoned town...and the sinister secret it hides...
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Ghost Hunt**

 **50 years ago**

The lights dimmed as the thick red velvet curtains rose. A hush fell over the audience as they eagerly awaited the new performance that had come to their small town. There hadn't been a production quite like this one in a very long time. It was supposed to be a one night show but the residents were hoping that it would stay on for a bit longer and provide some good natured entertainment they so desperately craved.

In the crowd of people sat ten-year-old Nagano Tatsu. She kicked her legs over the edge of her seat, waiting with undisguised excitement for the show that people had been talking about for a whole week. It had taken that long to get all the pieces ready, or so she had heard her mother tell her father. They sat on either side of her, smiling down at her childlike amusement.

The spotlight suddenly lit up the stage, illuminating a thick green forest and a little stone cottage in front of it. There was even smoke erupting from the little stone chimney. Tatsu clapped her hands in excitement. This was the first play she had ever seen and so far her ten-year-old mind was decidedly impressed.

Delicate singing started up from inside the cottage. The voice grew louder, sweeter, and the door opened slowly. A beautiful girl walked out rather stiffly, a striking contrast to the voice coming out of her. Her blond hair, unusual for a Japanese girl, shone like spun gold in the light. Tatsu commented on it without thinking.

"She's not Japanese," her mother said with a smile. "That's Magnolia Dawson, a very famous singer and Broadway actress back in America."

"Magnolia," Tatsu repeated in awe, admiring her beauty. "She's beautiful," she added in a small voice. "Do you think I will look like that when I'm older?"

Her father chuckled. "Of course, sweetheart. In fact, you will be even more beautiful."

Tatsu beamed and focused on Magnolia Dawson, taking in everything about her. The first sign that told her something wasn't right was the look in Magnolia's electric blue eyes. They looked blank, void of life. It was a look she knew well and she frowned. If this was what Magnolia did for a living she shouldn't be looking like her mind was in a different place.

" _Okaasan_ ," Tatsu whispered, tugging on her mother's sleeve. "She looks like one of my dolls."

Tatsu wiggled to the edge of her seat and stared intently into Magnolia's dead eyes. The light suddenly caught them, catching something disturbing in them, something Tatsu only saw when she looked at her dolls. She shivered and sat back in her seat, suddenly feeling very scared.

"I want to go home," she said quietly. "I don't want to be here."

"Tatsu," her mother said with a frown. "You wanted us to bring you here and we did. The show is only an hour. I'm sure you can manage for the next fifty-five minutes."

Tatsu quietened but she watched the show wearily. After Magnolia sang her song a raggedly old man came on stage from inside the cottage. He held a small knife with a slightly curved blade and approached her, gripping her arm and holding it out. He opened his mouth and out came a voice deeper and richer than what she would have expected from such an old man. He made the motions of scraping the knife over her arm yet he didn't actually touch her.

Tatsu frowned. "Why is he doing that?"

"Well, Magnolia appears to be a puppet he created. The makeup artists actually did a pretty good job of making her look like one," her mother commented lightly. "If I didn't know who she was I would have assumed it was an actual puppet in her place."

Tatsu watched Magnolia intently. She didn't look very happy. In fact she looked downright miserable. And yet her eyes still showed no hint of emotion. She turned her head slightly and the motion looked so forced Tatsu winced. Like the movement wasn't her own but that of someone else's. But that wasn't possible. Still, with every move Magnolia Dawson made after that it seemed as if she was doing something that wasn't her own.

Halfway through the show Tatsu caught sight of a razor thin string attached to Magnolia's arm. She would have missed such a quick sight if she hadn't been studying the young woman so intently. The spotlight glinted off the string again and Magnolia's arm shot out. Tatsu gasped when her head twisted to the side violently. Gasped again when she suddenly cartwheeled off the stage and into the side curtains, their billowing forms hiding her from view.

The old man was back on stage, dancing around a small campfire singing a song about loneliness and despair. Tatsu felt her eyes tear up at the sad words but she bit her lip when she saw another string attached to the old man. As she looked closer she saw many strings crisscrossing each other, each attached to a limb. As she watched, as she knew, the old man's movements became more mechanical to her as Magnolia's had been. They looked forced, unnatural. She glanced into his eyes and noticed the same glassy look Magnolia had sported.

What was going on?

Suddenly Magnolia cartwheeled back onto stage and began to dance with the old man in a twisted symphony of dips and turns. It looked horribly painful and yet Tatsu couldn't keep her eyes off the stage, ensnared by something she didn't quite understand. Her heart had picked up its pace, slamming against her chest and still she couldn't look away, had to keep watching the disturbing dance unfolding before her.

"Tatsu, maybe you shouldn't be watching this," her father murmured. "This looks painfully scary. I thought there wasn't an age restriction on this show."

"There wasn't," her mother muttered, reaching out and squeezing Tatsu's hand.

"No," Tatsu said softly. "I have to keep watching."

Magnolia and the old man were twisting on the stage, turning dangerously fast and yet still keeping their balance. Magnolia's head bent back far enough that looked like she might snap her neck and Tatsu whimpered, afraid for the beautiful dancer. Her heart increased its speed until the only thing she heard was the sound of her blood rushing through her veins.

Magnolia suddenly halted, her eyes staring into the crowd. Tatsu thought she was looking straight at her. Straight _through_ her. It frightened her at how emotionless the girl was. A person shouldn't be like that, no matter how good an actress she was. There was something _wrong_ with the way she looked. Tatsu noticed that now. Noticed how her skin gleamed like porcelain in the spotlight, how her shoes seemed like they were painted on.

Magnolia opened her mouth and Tatsu expected her to sing again but instead an agonized plea was ripped from her throat, a plea so raw and vulnerable she felt goose bumps rise up on her arms and legs.

" _Help me, please_."

Suddenly she jerked back and began dancing again, following the old man's moves. Her eyes still looked unnaturally blank and her face was still emotionless. She had sounded scared but she didn't look like she cared. Nothing was making sense to Tatsu. Was Magnolia's scared statement part of the show? If not, then what?

" _Please_!"

The word ripped through the small theatre, striking Tatsu in her heart. Magnolia had again cried for help but no one was doing anything. Tatsu stared at the crowd. They were all enthralled by the spell Magnolia Dawson had unknowingly cast upon them. Some were clapping at such a dedicated performance and others were whistling, shouting for more.

The show was nearing its end. Tatsu could tell by the way the atmosphere in the theatre began to change. The song Magnolia and the old man were singing began to get darker, more twisted. They sang of putting life into soulless beings, creatures carved by darkness and anger, formed in the dead of night when only the dead walked the earth. Tatsu shivered and shrank back in her seat, not wanting to watch the change coming over the two people on stage but unable to remove her gaze.

The old man suddenly grabbed Magnolia and stabbed his knife deep into her arm, wrenching it down. Tatsu screamed, her eyes wide with horror yet still glued to the stage. She expected blood to be running down the young woman's arms, coating the stage in a red carpet, but nothing erupted from the slice in her arm. Tatsu stared in confusion, knowing she had seen the old man stab her in the arm.

"Look at that," her mother whispered in awe. "Magnolia Dawson _is_ a puppet. Amazing."

A puppet? Tatsu didn't understand. That was no puppet on stage. It was Magnolia Dawson. And yet at the same time it wasn't. She looked as real as Tatsu and yet she had the features of a doll. She didn't understand. It was too much for her ten-year-old mind to grasp.

" _Help me_ ," Magnolia whispered again in a tortured voice. " _Save me from him_."

Tatsu felt an overwhelming urge to do just that, to run up on stage and get her away from the old man, but Magnolia jerked back again. This time the strings holding the old man tangled with hers and they crashed together and crumbled to the stage in a heap. Magnolia's head faced the crowd, her gaze blank and Tatsu had never felt more helpless.

The velvet curtains slowly dropped back into place and after a stunned moment of silence applause started up. It wasn't very enthusiastic, was instead unsure as if no one knew what had happened. Tatsu still stared on stage, not sure what had just happened herself. She was unaware of her parents ushering her out of the theatre, unaware of them talking in hushed tones at her catatonic reaction to the events that had taken place.

Tatsu only knew two things for certain. One, the show was something she would never ever forget. And two, she knew without a doubt, with a certain degree of conviction not seen in children her age, that the puppet that had been made to look like Magnolia Dawson had, indeed, been Magnolia Dawson.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

The ground was damp beneath her body. She could feel a light drizzle starting to soak into her clothes. There was a ringing in her ears and she couldn't move her limbs. A dull ache started in her head and it took her the better part of a minute to lift her upper body off the ground. Her visions blinked in and out of focus and it was a while before the fragmented images coalesced into a single view.

Mai was lying in a forest. Dense brush surrounded her. A pine scent reached her, growing stronger by the second because of the rain. She forced herself to get to her feet and looked around. The supine form of Masako had her stumbling over to the medium, dropping heavily to her knees beside her still body.

"Masako," Mai said, shaking her. "Masako, wake up. You need to wake up now."

The girl didn't move. A thin trail of blood rolled from her forehead and into the grass. Panicked, Mai searched for a pulse and sighed in relief when she found one, albeit a faint one. A twig snapped loudly in the silence and she jumped, spinning around wildly. Nothing moved in the dark. Worried that some wild animal might come across them, she slid her arm around Masako's back and lifted her. Mai limped slowly, pulling Masako along. The girl groaned but she forged on. She couldn't afford to be remiss when she didn't even know where they were. Or how they got so far away from the others.

"Mai," Masako whispered, pain in her voice. "Please stop. My ankle…I think it's sprained."

Mai ground to a halt and helped Masako to the ground. The girl was still half sucked into unconsciousness. She leaned her head back against the tree and closed her eyes.

"Stay awake!" Mai snapped. "If you don't I swear I will leave you here."

After a moment of painful silence Masako responded, much to Mai's relief. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Then you'd have Naru all to yourself."

"Is this really the time to be arguing over that? You always choose the most inopportune moments to have this fight."

"Forgive me if my dying is coming in the way of your feelings about me and Naru." Masako coughed and shivered, her arms trying to rub some warmth into her body.

"Okay, first of all, you're not dying. It's just a sprained ankle. And two, there is no you and Naru. I'm sure he would have made it abundantly clear if there was," Mai retorted, annoyed that she had let Masako goad her into this volatile mess concerning a certain midnight-eyed man.

"You're just jealous that we've been on actual dates," Masako said, tilting her chin up in a superior manner.

"Don't you mean blackmailed dates," Mai muttered under her breath. Unfortunately the medium heard the comment and blushed, her cheeks tinging red.

"Does it really matter how I managed to get him on a date? The fact is that he came with me, and you're burning with envy that it wasn't you in my place."

Mai shot her an incredulous look, unable to believe she was willing to go this far to hurt her. Sure, she had seen them go on a date once, and it had hurt like hell, but once Naru's true identity had been revealed, the truth had also come out about the reason behind those brief liaisons. Still, she wouldn't rise to the bait. She wouldn't be made into the bad one, not when she was doing her damndest in trying to keep Masako conscious.

"You know what? I'm not even going to respond to such a childish comment," she said instead. "If you really want to goad me into leaving you here so you can complain to Naru about this later, you can forget it. You're a part of my small family, and I won't leave you behind no matter how much you annoy me. So go ahead, do your worst."

Mai stood, hands on her hips, and eyed their surroundings. They must have fallen pretty far away from the others. The brush this side was thick and untouched and she wondered why no hikers had ever ventured here. There wasn't even a path on the ground to follow. Just an undisturbed flow of green.

"I'm sorry," Masako said softly. "You're right. That was childish of me. I'm scared, Mai. And I don't know what to do about it."

Mai sighed and brushed the strands of hair falling onto her forehead off her face. Her skin was damp from the rain but inside her blood boiled. "It's okay. I'm here with you. I won't let anything happen to you. But first we need to try to find out where the others are. I can't even get a bearing, seeing as how deep we are."

"I can't really remember what happened," Masako murmured. "All I recall was driving along the road. And then Monk swerved violently and Miss Matsuzaki screamed. That's it."

"You're not wrong," Mai said. "I'm not entirely sure what caused Monk to react in such a way but something must have spooked him. He's usually more careful than that."

"Do you…do you think it was a spirit?"

"Shouldn't you be able to tell me that?" Mai asked dryly.

"My senses are all disoriented. I can't tell left from right. I might have a concussion."

"That's convenient," Mai muttered again.

She sighed again. She wasn't afraid. She supposed it was because she was with someone else and not by herself. Still, Masako, no matter how undesirable her company was, was better than nothing. A dull throb started in her head and she rubbed it absently, thinking about Naru. She hoped he wasn't badly hurt from the crash. It was strange though, that she and Masako ended so far away from the others.

"Do you think it was intentional?" the girl asked in a frightened voice, though brave enough to voice the question Mai couldn't. "Do you think we were thrown so far away from the crash site for a reason?"

"I think you might have a concussion," Mai said hastily, gnawing her bottom lip. She didn't want Masako to think the dark thoughts already running through her mind. "We should keep moving. We might stumble across some of the others."

Mai reached out her hand to help the girl up when a rustling in the bushes behind them made them freeze. Mai turned her head slowly. The bushes rustled again, the sound a mere whisper through the dark. And yet nothing had ever sounded louder to her.

"Naru?" she whispered, desperately hoping it was him and not some wandering spirit. "Is that you?"

"Not quite."

The voice that answered raised the hairs at the back of Mai's neck. She straightened and slowly faced the bushes as a figure began to take shape in the darkness. Masako clutched her hand tightly, squeezing the life out of her fingers. Of all the thoughts running through her mind, there was one thing she knew for certain. The voice wasn't Naru's. Nor did it belong to anyone else in SPR.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

"Still no sign of them," Lin said in a hushed whisper to Naru.

Outwardly, he didn't even bat an eye but in his mind's eye he was destroying everything he could get his hands on. It was beyond insane, the situation they were currently in. And yet here they were, stuck in the forest bordering the town of Fuyuichi. Or what was once a town. A dangerous place to be, especially when the sun went down. He gritted his teeth and ignored the insistent pounding in his head, throbbing like it was alive. He had to find Mai. Had to make sure she was all right. Before the sun set.

No one knew where they currently were except for himself and Lin. It had been a stupid exercise, to see if the rumours about the town were true, rumours that Madoka had personally asked him to look into. He supposed he should have told the others about the request but he hadn't wanted to scare them with the tales told about that place, especially since he believed them to be true enough for his mentor to ask him for such a thing. She wouldn't waste his time with fairy tales.

"You know the stories about the town," he murmured to Lin. "We have to find her before dark arrives."

"You mean them. Perhaps you should have told them the truth instead of gambling with their lives. As it is, someone already knows we're here. And what our purpose is. Why else would that thing have caused our crash?" Lin whispered back, censure in his voice.

Naru ignored him and forged forward, remembering with startling clarity the creature that had streaked across the road, halting in the centre of it long enough for the drivers to swerve violently off the road. He agreed with Lin; it was no accident. That only served to fortify his opinions about the town. He hadn't been able to get a good look at the creature, not only because Lin had desperately tried to gain control of the swerving vehicle, but also because the creature hadn't stayed long enough to be glimpsed. He did know it resembled a humanoid.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Lin interrupted. "You could be leading us deeper into unexplored territories."

Naru grimaced at the dramatics behind the words. He had studied the map of the forest supplied by Madoka so he knew which direction he was headed in pretty well. He had an idea that Mai might stumble deeper into the forest, with her astounding lack of direction. Besides, he knew for a fact that once a person was in the forest there was no way out except through the town. Even if she didn't stumble in that direction it was only a matter of time before she did, and he wanted to be there before her so she wouldn't end up there alone with that thing haunting the town.

"Where are we going, Naru?" Miss Matsuzaki complained. "Shouldn't we be trying to get back up to the road?"

"If you have an idea about how to scale that fifty foot incline without any equipment then be my guest," he responded shortly, not slowing his pace. "We need to get a move on before the sun sets."

"What happens when the sun sets?" Monk asked. "Would Dracula pay us a visit?"

"Monsters aren't real, Monk," Naru said. "But spirits are. And this forest is filled with malicious ones ready to devour anything that moves. We're in their territory so unless you want to become a target for one of them I suggest we keep moving."

Monk, Miss Matsuzaki, and John followed silently and he mentally sighed. He could barely see the light between the trees anymore. They rose like giants toward the sky, their thick branches and leaves forming a canopy of green and brown. The rain wasn't helping either. The dark clouds overhead made it hard to tell how close to sun set it was. He felt a moment of panic that they wouldn't make it to their destination in time, that they would be stuck here to take on whatever was out there, and he increased his pace.

Naru burst through a hanging canopy of green ivy and stumbled onto a gravelled pathway. He studied the ground intently, even dropping to his haunches to see clearly. He beckoned Lin to join him and the older man squatted next to him.

"What are we looking at?" he murmured softly.

"Look at these," Naru said, hovering his fingers over the imprints in the ground. "There are footprints here. I'm not entirely sure if they belong to Mai and Miss Hara but the possibility is extremely high. No one else should be in these woods."

"It looks like one of them has an injury. The indentation on one of the prints isn't as distinguished as the other," Lin said slowly.

"All the more reason why we have to find them," Naru said standing up. "I'm surprised they managed to find this pathway, hidden as it is. Without that map even I wouldn't have been able to discover it for a while."

"What map? Did Madoka give you a map you failed to show me?"

Naru closed his eyes and started heading in the direction of the town. He could hear the other three shuffling behind him, still silent at what he had delivered to them moments before. They also wanted to get out of these woods before it was too late. He could feel their undisguised haste as if it were a tangible thing.

"Get a move on, Lin."

"Hold on…Naru, they weren't alone."

"What?" Naru spun, spying Lin still on the ground, a frown marring his features. "What do you mean? We are the only ones currently in this forest."

"How sure are you about that? There are larger footprints here, Naru. Footprints in front of theirs. Leading them."

"I thought you said the spirits only appear after dark," John said in a whisper, rubbing his head wearily.

"This isn't a spirit," Lin said quietly. "Spirits don't leave corporeal projections…Naru, wait!"

He didn't hear Lin, just kept running on the pathway, vaulting over thick roots creeping across the ground. His heart was pounding painfully in his chest, his thoughts only on what was accompanying Mai and whether it would do her harm.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

"Mai, I don't trust him," Masako whispered to her as they hobbled behind the man in front of them.

Mai pressed her lips tightly together and kept her arm firmly around Masako's waist. She felt the same way, especially given the way he had crept up on them. She stared at his profile. He was tall, well built, with flowing brown hair. His clothes, however, were dirty, caked in dust, and looked like something out of a 1950's movie.

"I don't either but he seems to know his way around. Maybe he'll lead us somewhere other than this forest," Mai finally whispered back.

"Yes, but it's what happens after that worries me."

"Not much farther now, Miss Taniyama, Miss Hara," the man said in a monotone. "Soon you will be able to relax."

His words brought goose bumps to Mai's arms, something that had happened every time he spoke. She swallowed and straightened, determined not to let this strange man frighten her more than he already had. She knew it was the wisest course of action to follow him for the moment. She had tried her luck earlier on by trying to refuse him but she had seen the unnatural glint in his eye, had known he would take them by force if they had attempted to run away.

"I'm beginning to think it was no accident that we're down here," Masako murmured. "And I also think it was no accident that we were separated from the others."

Mai gritted her teeth as Masako also voiced that dark suspicion niggling at the back of her mind. Ever since the strange man had appeared she had been wondering the same thing. And why just the two of them? If the man was after females Ayako was still out there. Or maybe he already had her locked up somewhere.

"There's nothing we can do for now, Masako," Mai whispered.

"Ladies," the man said. "We are here. Welcome to my home."

They emerged out of the forest and into a decrepit little town square. Mai glanced around, hoping to see more people bustling around the cobblestoned pathways but there was no one. The fountain in the middle of the square was broken. The little shops around it were all dark, some windows cracked and shattered, others coated with a thick layer of dust. To Mai it seemed like no had lived here for a very long time.

"Are you sure you live here?" she questioned uncertainly. "I don't see any other people around."

The man halted and turned to her. "Yes, I am sure. The people in this town do not like to leave the comfort of their homes. That is all."

"Where are you taking us?" Masako asked.

"To see my master, of course." The man grinned.

Mai automatically took a step back. His teeth were sharper than usual and a maniacal glint appeared in his eyes. He continued to lead them to who knows where but she and Masako followed, desperately looking for a way out. As they moved through the pathways the shops became houses, wooden structures that looked like they would topple over if a light breeze blew across them. But the man continued to lead them forward, past the crumbling houses to a stone chapel with a tall black steeple hidden at the end of an alleyway between two houses. He pushed open the doors and beckoned them inside.

Mai fought against her instincts screaming at her to run away. The darkened chapel whispered to her eerily, wind howling from inside. She swallowed hard and took a step forward, dragging Masako with her.

Light suddenly flared to life in front of them. The man blew out the match in his hand, dropping it onto the floor and pulling the metal-framed sconce from its perch on the wall. He inclined his head and they followed down the aisle, passing rows and rows of dust-coated pews. Some were cracked, dark lines stretching across wooden frames, while others were broken completely. Cobwebs clung tenaciously to darkened corners, the light from the fire glinting off the silver threads.

"This way, please," the man said, gesturing ahead of him.

Mai squeezed Masako's hand tighter and led the way, going through a door on the left side. Surprisingly it led down a warmly lit corridor, the sconces burning brightly along the walls.

"Third door on your right, if you will," the man whispered behind them.

Mai shrieked and jumped, her heart pounding in her chest. She glared at the man, her fear forgotten for a second. "Could you not do that while we're in a rickety old chapel?"

"My apologies, Miss Taniyama. I did not mean to frighten you," the man responded, his tone sombre.

Mai gripped the knob and turned. The door opened easily under her grasp and swung open silently. It looked like it had been turned into a medical room. There was a bed lying in the corner next to a table with medical equipment lying on it. Mai immediately headed for the bed and let Masako rest there. She leaned back against the wall and eyed the man with distrust.

"Are you going to fix her ankle?" she asked.

"Of course I am. The master does not like damaged goods," came the ominous reply.

Masako shot her a fearful look and looked ready to jump out of bed but Mai shook her head, noting the sconce the man had left in the once empty space near the door. As the man bent over Masako's leg, applying a balm and bandaging her up Mai inched closer to the sconce. She gripped it and pulled. It slid noiselessly from its position on the wall. It looked lighter than it was and she almost dropped it, catching her balance at the last minute. As the man tied the ends of the bandage together she raised the sconce above her head and brought it down on the man's head with all the strength she could muster.

A loud crack rent the air and the man dropped to the floor. Mai released the sconce and grabbed Masako's hand, pulling her to her feet. "Come on," she shouted. "I don't know how long he'll be out for."

"Oh my God, you've killed him, Mai," Masako was saying over and over again, tears overflowing her eyes.

"I did not kill him. I just knocked him unconscious."

"How do you know that?"

"Just keep moving. We'll figure this out when we're far away from here."

They burst from the chapel and hobbled as best as they could to the cobbled pathway, Mai still supporting Masako. Before they could take another step they froze. Darkened shadows were beginning to emerge from the inky alleyways between houses. Those shadows became larger, forming into solid structures. They surrounded Mai and Masako, always moving, never letting themselves be shown. A shadow whipped past Mai's shoulder and she spun violently, nearly spraining her own ankle.

"Mai," Masako gasped out in a teary voice.

Suddenly the strange man emerged from the chapel, eyes hardened with steel. He was dragging along the sconce, the metal grating against the cobblestone pathway. He inched closer and closer. Mai was frozen to the spot, her voice stuck in her throat. The man reached out with his other hand and grabbed Masako, dragging her toward him. She yelped and struggled but with her sprained ankle it didn't do much justice.

"That was not a very nice thing to do, Miss Taniyama," he said in a deceptively soft voice. "I have not done anything to hurt you."

"No? Then let go of Masako," Mai said, forcing the words out. It didn't escape her notice that the shadows seemed closer to her than before.

"I do not think so. I told you. My master does not like damaged goods."

"What does your master want with Masako?"

"That is none of your concern. I will be seeing you soon, Miss Taniyama."

The man seemed to merge with the shadows then, dragging a screaming Masako behind him. Mai tried to follow but the shadows blocked her off. She could only watch helplessly as the man's grinning face sank into the darkness.

 **Hmm. Not entirely too sure about this one but it seems to be going along...**

 **Oh well. Please enjoy :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

Naru could see her up ahead. She looked like she was in shock. Her features were frozen in a macabre mask of horror. He skidded to a halt in front of her and gripped her shoulders, his knuckles white against the dark red of her t-shirt. He shook her gently, repeatedly calling her name. She didn't respond to him and terror gripped him in a vice. He shook her harder until he felt Lin gently extricating her from his grasp.

"Mai," Lin said gently. "Mai, can you hear me?"

Almost as if Lin's voice had pulled her back to the present Naru watched as emotion filled her eyes. She reached out and gripped Lin's hands, her fingers trembling. And then she screamed.

"Masako! He took Masako!" She cried out, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Let go of me! I have to find her!"

Naru swallowed hard at the sight of her pain and moved past Lin, sliding his arms around her and pulling her tight against his chest. He ignored the fists he received on his back, refusing to let go of her, deaf to her cries for freedom. Her little body shook violently in his arms, whatever happened here frightening her beyond belief.

"Naru, please," she whispered. "Let go. I have to find her."

Eventually her fists gripped the back of his jacket and she sobbed into his chest. Every cry that came out of her wrenched something sentimental deep within himself. He hated seeing her so upset, hated that he could have done nothing to stop it. He knew it was irrational to even think he _could_ have stopped it, but to see her smile he would have done anything. And that thought scared him.

"Sshhh, it's all right now," he murmured instead. "I'm here now. You're safe. We'll get Miss Hara back. But right now I need you to focus and tell me everything that's happened."

Mai's sobs became little sniffles. She pulled back away from him and he reluctantly released her. She rubbed her eyes with her little fists and he bit back a smile at how childlike she appeared. Even after all this time he couldn't stop the storm of emotions that bombarded him when he rested his gaze on her. He supposed it was futile to resist such strong bouts of sentiment but he would fight it with everything he had. He had to. Although every time he thought of it, it was getting harder and harder to remember why.

"There was a man," she began in a low voice. "I thought he seemed a little odd. Like he didn't fit in anywhere. He was almost…mechanical." She paused and sniffed again. Monk passed her a handkerchief which she took with a grateful little smile tossed his way.

"Perhaps we should find an establishment to rest for the night," Lin interrupted. "It's almost dark and we have no way of communication."

Naru sighed and closed his eyes. He knew Lin was right. This was possibly one of the most dangerous cases they were currently working, even though the others weren't aware of it yet. They had no equipment, no vehicles, and no phones to call for help. Their best bet would be to find a bed and breakfast that might have a communications line up. Although given the history of the town and what Naru knew, he doubted they would find anything of the sort. No one had come here for the better part of fifty years. And yet someone _had_ been here.

"What are you talking about? We have to go look for Masako!" Mai said in a loud voice.

"I know how much you want to save her. We all do too. But in this town nothing good happens after dark. What good is it if we die before trying to save her? Do you think she would want that?" Naru asked, his voice heavy with regret.

He was concerned with the fact that only Miss Hara was taken and not Mai. Why had that been the case? He may have an idea about that but first he needed to inform the group of the situation and what had led them to be passing along the border of the town. They might resent him for taking matters into his own hands as usual but there was nothing they could do about it now.

"I think I see one way over there," Miss Matsuzaki said squinting in the oncoming darkness.

"Let's go."

Naru slid his arm around Mai's shoulders and started to lead her down the cobblestoned pathway. It was an automatic gesture that came naturally when he was around her so he didn't even give it a second thought. The others followed silently, warily watching the shadows darkening the alleyways. Mai huddled closer to him, whether it was consciously or not. She was shivering, her eyes darting to every little shadow that moved. Once again, he felt helpless in the face of her fear and he hated it.

The bed and breakfast was an ancient pile of wood, coated in dust and cobwebs that had been settled for fifty years. The porch had a hole through the roof with a ragged piece of wood dangling from it, swaying in the light breeze. The balustrade was chipped and broken in places, more dust covering the mahogany. The stairs groaned as they walked up to the front door. Lin reached out and gripped the round doorknob. He twisted it and they all heard the levers grinding in the handle as the door swung open.

Darkness spilled outside. Lin took a tentative step forward, bracing himself for something that wasn't there. Musty air blew past them all bringing dust with it. Monk pulled out a lighter and moved ahead of Lin. Naru released Mai and moved to shut the door. The little flame from the lighter shed just enough light for everyone to see that the front desk was a mess. Papers yellowed with age were littered across the floor. The glass case that held the room keys was shattered. Other than the barest minimum of furniture the room was empty.

"There are still some keys left," Monk said, peering at them. "I've got ones for rooms five, eight, and ten."

"Just get the ones for rooms eight and ten," Naru said, hand on the doorjamb that lead into the next room. "Shine that lighter here would you?"

The others huddled around him as the light bathed the next room. It was the lounge. The couches were worn with age, torn in some places and caked with dust. There were little coffee tables in between the couches holding dusty glasses, some still with murky liquid. In the far corner of the room a rickety old staircase twisted toward the second floor. There was a closed door behind the stairs, looking like it housed an ominous secret.

"Hold on, I see a light switch. Maybe we'll be lucky in this," Lin said, reaching out and flicking the switch.

Dull light flooded the room. Even in full illumination the room still looked menacing. Like something had caused the people in this town to immediately drop whatever it was they were doing and run. Monk poked a glass with the murky liquid. Miss Matsuzaki peered into the grimy mirror above the derelict fireplace.

Naru headed for the stairs when a light chime rent the air. It was as soft as a spoon tapping a delicate glass but everyone became dead weight in their tracks. They all stared at the closed door behind the stairs with wariness. For a second no on moved until the chime sounded again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

"Six times. It's signalling the time," Monk finally said.

"I'm well aware of that," Naru interrupted. "What I want to know is why something like that even still works. This town should have been abandoned over forty years ago."

"I suppose the key words there are ' _should have been'_ ," John said in a low voice.

"Let's go."

"Wait, you don't know what might be on the other side," Mai finally spoke up in a soft voice. "It might be him again."

Naru studied her appearance. She looked as white as a ghost in the pale light. Her eyes were wide pools of vulnerability. In all the time he had known her he had never seen her look quite so frightened. His fist clenched at his side. He glared at the door. He hoped it was the mystery man who took Miss Hara away. His thoughts were heading into the realms of viciousness when Lin stepped up to open the door. Naru was immediately behind him as it swung open.

To his surprise, and Lin's, it was the kitchen, warmly glowing from several candles placed strategically around the room. The light hit all the corners of the room, brightening it considerably. White cupboards lined the walls all the way around the room. A grey fridge stood near the corner. The floors were papered in blue and white squares. But the thing that caught his attention was the large metal dome sitting on top of a red and white checked tablecloth, a note taped to the side. He eased forward and pulled the note off, reading the contents grimly before squashing it in his hand.

"What did it say?" Lin asked in a quiet voice.

Naru tossed a glance at Mai, huddled in the doorway between Monk and Miss Matsuzaki and had never felt such a powerful need to do violence before. Her deep pools of liquid cinnamon were glued to him, waiting for him to do what he had always done. He let out a slow breath of air before whispering back to Lin.

"' _The first meal is on the house, compliments of the master_ '."

 **Pffft I should feel guilty for making the guys wander around the B &B when Masako is missing but unfortunately I don't. I'm well aware of the situation and how they **_**should**_ **be reacting. I just don't want them to run around outside when other things wander around as well. As Naru said, what good will it do Masako if they die before saving her?**


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

After much arguing about what to do with the food, in case it was poisoned, Monk impulsively downed a slice of meat, claiming his hunger was starting to make him see black spots in his vision. The others waited in silence to see if anything would happen to him and after five minutes when nothing did, Ayako tried her luck.

Mai watched the guys wearily as she slowly chewed on a sandwich Lin had made for her with the rolls lying next to the meat. Her gaze automatically strayed to Naru when he walked back into the kitchen. He looked worried, like he was hiding something important from them. She watched him carefully as he manoeuvred around Monk, Ayako and John, noticed the way he whispered to Lin about something. She narrowed her eyes.

"What aren't you telling us, Naru?" she asked almost conversationally.

Immediately all movement in the kitchen ceased. Every pair of eyes was on Naru, who slid his gaze toward her. Mai raised an eyebrow, still chewing on her sandwich thoughtfully. She cocked her head to the side and waited patiently for his response. She would get one. If he had done something to instigate this predicament…

Naru sighed. "All right, I guess there's no point in hiding this from you guys any longer."

"We're working a case, aren't we?" John asked slowly.

"Yes. Yes, we are."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Monk asked. "We could have been better prepared for this." His voice held a tinge of anger.

"Truthfully? I wasn't expecting something like this to happen," Naru said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the table. "I've been here before but nothing of the sort occurred then."

"Wait, you did what?" Lin exclaimed in aghast. "Why would you do something so reckless? What if something had happened to you?"

"Actually I think this happened _because_ I was here the last time. A few days ago Madoka came to me with a request. Something happened in this town fifty years ago that sent the residents fleeing. As you could see from this establishment, that statement is true. I'm not entirely sure what it was that caused such an uproar. There was no clear indication in any of the stories written about this town."

"So that's why we're here? To solve the mystery behind what caused people to abandon this town?" Ayako said with a wave of her hand. "We're not detectives, Naru."

"I'm well aware of that, Miss Matsuzaki. And no, that's only part of the reason why we're here. Yes, this town has been abandoned for years and no one steps foot in it, but there is the occasional trespasser. There are rumours surrounding this town, rumours that speak of creatures who walk after the sun has set and who thirst after the living. It sounds like a story someone with lots of time on their hands came up with. And yet there have been reported disappearances linked to this place. Madoka thinks this is the work of spirits and I usually don't contradict her judgment. That's why we're here, although our method of getting here was decidedly unorthodox."

Mai had left her sandwich aside a long time ago. Now she watched Naru with acute horror growing in the pit of her stomach. Her thoughts drifted back to the man who had taken Masako. She had known from the first time he had spoken that he wasn't human. But for that assumption to be confirmed in this way caused goose bumps to break out over her skin.

"And now we come to you, Mai," Naru said, turning his piercing gaze her way and pinning her with a sea of blue. "You initially said there was a man." His sentence trailed off, waiting for her to pick up from there.

"There was. He led us to a chapel hidden deep in an alleyway. He…" She paused, frowning.

"What is it?"

When she looked up she noticed Naru was standing closer to her than before she had started speaking. She could see the lines of strain bracketing the corners of his eyes and instinctively picked up he was trying his damndest not to show the extent of the emotions he was currently feeling. Inanely she wondered why he didn't just let people into his heart as easily as Gene did.

"He patched up Masako's ankle. She sprained it when she fell."

Naru frowned and glanced away. "Interesting. Why would he do something like that only to kidnap her?"

"He said his master didn't like damaged goods," Mai supplied woodenly.

Everyone instantly noticed the way he and Lin froze. They shared a loaded glance. "So that's what it meant," Naru said. "I removed the note before any of you could see it, but I suppose you must have been wondering where all this food came from."

"What do you mean? You didn't mention a note," Monk said.

"There was a note taped to the side of the dome. Obviously I have no idea as to who had written it but the message couldn't have been any clearer. The reason why we are here is by no accident."

"What did it say?" Ayako asked.

"' _The first meal is on the house, compliments of the master_ '."

Mai sat up straighter in her chair, her nightmare beginning to replay itself in her head again. She remembered the sharp toothy smile the man had given her, remembered the way his voice had caused shivers to course up and down her spine, and remembered the way Masako had been so frightened. She gritted her teeth. She should have tried harder to help her. She should have done something more than just stand and stare dumbfounded as she was taken away.

"How can you even look me in the eye anymore?" She didn't recognise the tortured voice that ripped out of her. Her head was bent, hair falling around her face like a curtain, shielding her from the looks of contempt she knew they should be giving her. The fact that they weren't made her feel even worse. "Why aren't you yelling at me?" she asked. "It's my fault she was taken. She was so scared. She told me she didn't want to go with that man but I didn't listen. It's because of me…"

Mai broke off as she was enveloped in a warm embrace. Her eyes widened as a familiar masculine scent reached her. She lowered her lashes and dropped her forehead onto Naru's shoulder. Another mundane thought about everyone seeing Naru like this, so out of character, ran through her mind. Yet she still didn't pull away. She felt tears fill her eyes at the tenderness with which he held her, as if she was something precious to him. She loathed this weakness about herself, that he could reduce her to such a state with only a small gesture from him. Yet for Naru, this was more than just a tiny step. It was a giant leap.

"There was nothing you could have done," he murmured. "It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself."

Mai sniffed and wiped her eyes in annoyance, pulling back from him. "I know. It doesn't change how I feel though. Are we really not going to look for Masako? Are we just going to leave her in the hands of that man, creature, spirit, whatever he is, for the entire night?"

Naru tensed then released her, stepping back. "I know what you must think of me, what you must all think of me, that I'm some anti-social psychopath with no human emotion. But make no mistake about it, we _will_ get Miss Hara back."

"How can you be so sure?" Monk asked. "That man could have taken her God knows where. You said it yourself that there have been many disappearances linked to this town. Masako might become just another statistic at our lack of action."

The stricken look on Mai's face caused Ayako to hit him over the head. "Have a little more tact. We're all trying our best not to think of the worst case scenario and yet here you go, running off at the mouth without even putting some thought into your words."

"It's okay, Ayako," Mai said. "You don't have to curtail your words because of me." She straightened and glanced toward the kitchen door. "I want to be alone."

"Alone is that last thing you need to be," Naru said firmly. "We don't know what we're up against."

"I'll go with her," Ayako said quickly, standing up and starting to follow her out of the kitchen. "Don't worry," she heard her whisper to Naru. "I won't let her out of my sight."

Mai sighed and made her way to the edge of the staircase, staring up into the dark abyss that was the first landing, when a peculiar sound floated to her. She paused and tilted her head to the side, listening intently. It was a sweet sound, so unnatural in this place it rose goose bumps on her arms. She spun toward the window and moved to it, peering out through the dust-stained glass.

"What is it?" she heard Ayako ask.

"Singing," Mai said in disbelief as words began to become more audible. "Someone is singing."


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

Mai could hear Ayako shouting behind her to come back into the bed and breakfast but she ignored the insistent calls. She spun around frantically, trying to locate the source of the beautiful voice. All around her darkness reigned, the deepest form of black. Not even the light from the establishment behind her could cast a sure path to where she was standing. Wind whipped past her, whispering an eerie melody that made the trees around her shudder violently. She pushed her hair back from her eyes and moved deeper into the darkness, away from the safety of the bed and breakfast, away from the safety of Naru.

In the open air, with no building as protection, the voice started to change. It became less sweet and more ominously captivating. The voice seemed to beckon her, as if her movements were no longer her own. She frowned as she was drawn in the direction of the forest. She had no idea where she was headed, and yet she knew exactly where she was going at the same time. Her limbs became weightless, an invisible chain yanking her forward aggressively.

Mai wondered at the lethargic feeling coming over her, barely able to hold on to her thoughts. She went with it, allowing the voice to draw her further in, hoping it would lead her to something concrete, something that would enable her to save Masako. Something that would enable her to rid herself of the guilt eating away at her. She admitted to herself that beyond her desire to help her friend was also something stronger that wanted to erase what she felt at losing Masako. At the heart of it, it was a decision based on selfishness. She knew that, yet she still couldn't bring herself to exercise more caution.

"Mai!"

Naru's voice shouted to her and even he couldn't make her turn away from her current course. She delved deeper into the darkness and paused for a second at the edge of the forest before plunging in. Leaves rustled like a rattlesnake's tail all around her. Dry branches snapped under her shoes as she walked. The voice was becoming louder. She could hear the loneliness and bereftness behind the words. It tugged at her heartstrings painfully. She had to know who was singing such a sorrowful song.

Light flared to life between the trees up ahead and she moved toward it, faster than she wanted to. She paused right at the edge of the trees and peered through the leaves. There was a campfire burning brightly, a thin tendril of smoke rising up to the inky sky. Beyond that, half hidden by shadows, was a little stone cottage. There was another trickle of smoke rising from the chimney. From what Mai could hear, the singing was coming from inside.

"Naru was wrong," she whispered. "There are people here."

She pushed past the leaves and stepped into the little clearing. The warmth from the fire was beckoning her and she moved toward it, outstretching her hands. The worst of the chill she had ignored started to seep away. Her gaze shifted to the cottage and the singing from within and she took a step toward it, determined to know if the people in there knew anything about what was going on in this town. If they could even nudge her in a specific direction she would be grateful.

The voice abruptly stopped and the door suddenly grinded open and a figure started to emerge from the flickering light within. Mai squinted as a female form came into focus and her heart skipped a beat. _Masako_ , she thought, then berated herself for that dense assumption. Masako wouldn't be here and walking with her sprained ankle. The figure came slowly toward her with a distinct gait that she had seen before. She frowned.

"Excuse me," she said, taking a step forward. "My name is Mai Taniyama. I'm with Shibuya Psychic Research. I was wondering if you could spare me…a few…minutes…" Her voice trailed off as the figure stopped in the light from the fire.

Mai backed away in horror at the face that looked human but wasn't quite. Waves of blond hair cascaded over her shoulders. Too perfect features made up the glassy looking kohl-rimmed blue eyes, rose-coloured blush on high cheekbones, bright red lipstick painted on full lips. She was wearing a rose pink dress that hugged her form tightly and flared out at the waist, falling to her knees. White frills decorated the edge of the dress and white lace outlined the neckline and capped sleeves. Tiny pearl buttons formed a line down the bodice. It was a lovely dress and yet the unnatural way the girl looked detracted from the simplistic beauty of it.

The girl raised her head jerkily and tilted her head to the side. "You shouldn't be here," a beautiful voice said softly. "Leave this place before it's too late for you."

Mai took a step back at the chilling way the words were delivered. "What do you mean? I'm looking for my friend, Masako. Have you seen a girl wearing a red kimono outlined with gold braiding?"

The girl just stared at her. "I told you to leave, Miss Taniyama. It's not safe for you here."

Mai couldn't understand the logic behind the girl's words. "But you're here, aren't you? How unsafe could it be if you don't leave as well?"

"I am tied to this place in ways you cannot even fathom. There is no place for me in the outside world any longer. Unless you wish to become a child of this town, you should leave." The girl suddenly froze and wheeled around quickly, making her way back to the cottage.

"Wait!" Mai shouted, going after her. "What are you talking about? At least tell me your name."

The girl paused briefly before hurrying back to the cottage and slamming the door behind her. Mai banged her fist on the wooden door and it rattled on its hinges. Her temper was beginning to rise at the uncalled for dismissal. She banged harder and reared back her foot to kick it but the sudden reply to her question halted her movements.

"They used to call me Magnolia Dawson," the voice said quietly, as if she was directly on the other side of the door. "I have answered your question. Now go. Leave me alone."

"Magnolia Dawson," Mai repeated. "Your name sounds familiar. Please, open the door and let me in."

"I told you to go. If the master finds you it will be too late. There is no escape once he has you," Magnolia said slowly, enunciating each word. "I cannot help you with what you seek. If you want to live then go."

Mai gritted her teeth in frustration. Like hell she was going to abandon Masako just to save her own hide. She was made of tougher stuff than that. She didn't know why Magnolia was being so evasive about this. Maybe she was scared. Her fear might be the only thing keeping her prisoner in this town. She let out a sigh heavy with the burden of what she was carrying in her heart.

"Fine," Mai said softly. "I know you know where your master is keeping her but if you don't want to tell me, that's all right. But I promise you, Magnolia Dawson, I will save you too."

She thought she heard something akin to muffled sobbing but that was drowned out by her scream as a dark shadow suddenly loomed over her and someone grabbed her roughly from behind.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

 **Happy new year! :)**

Angry midnight eyes glowed a burning inferno at her. She had never seen him more furious with her than he was now. Mai let out a ragged breath of air as Naru's fingers formed a band of steel around her right wrist. He hauled her after him as he went, not speaking, not even showing what he was thinking. His gait remained steady and sure as he pulled her deeper into the woods.

"I'm sorry," she squeaked out.

Naru abruptly stopped and she careened into his back. She rubbed her head and took a step back, tugging gently at her wrist to see if he would release her. He held her firmly, not even budging an inch. He turned to face her and his eyes were like thunder. Mai swallowed hard and acknowledged she might have gone too far this time.

"Have you any idea what a foolish stunt you just pulled?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave.

Mai lowered her eyes, unable to meet the censure in his. Every word he spoke held a bit of contempt. This was what she had been looking for back at the B&B yet he was only showing it now. She knew she had just been thoroughly reckless and she still wouldn't have changed her actions if given a second chance. She had met Magnolia Dawson. She had found proof that there was someone, _something?_ , living in this town.

"Was I not speaking clearly enough for you? Were my words scrambled by the idiocy cells in your brain? Has Miss Hara's kidnapping robbed you of what little intelligence you seemed to have?"

Naru's words were icy and she was aghast at how much they hurt. She blinked back the tears filling her eyes, her gaze still tactfully avoiding his. He didn't have to be so nasty about it. She knew she had done something extremely foolish. Knew something terrible could have happened to her on the way. Suspected something still _might_ happen to both her and Naru on the way back to the B &B. His antagonising manner was completely uncalled for. He was going way beyond reprimanding her.

"There's no need to get nasty," she said, sniffing delicately, trying to put it off as if he hadn't just cut her deep with his words.

"Isn't there?" Naru asked harshly. "When you never listen to me time and time again, what else am I supposed to do with you, Mai?"

She raised her watery gaze his way and to her chagrin a tear cascaded down her cheek. She immediately saw the horror in Naru's eyes before he quickly masked it. His body tensed and he released her wrist. He gritted his teeth and settled his gaze on a spot to his right.

"I spoke out for your own safety and your disregard for that is driving me to distraction," he admitted in a low voice. "Why must you be so reckless, Mai? Do you not even think about how your behaviour affects the rest of us? Monk, John, and Miss Matsuzaki wanted to join in the search for you but I forbade them to step a foot out of that establishment. I've no doubt they're cursing my actions for it. Why do you keep making me the bad guy when my only objective is to keep you safe?"

Mai wiped the tears that had begun to overflow. Hidden behind his words, his voice, his very actions, was the form of a person who had been terrified only for her safety. He might not be very good at showing it, but she knew he acted out in his own way. Him being so angry at her only made her aware of how much he actually cared for her, and how deep those feelings ran.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I didn't mean to make you worry. But since we're out here do you think we could look for Masako?"

"Mai…"

"Look, I know you don't think it's a very good idea at the moment but you can't ask me to just sit by and do nothing. You know me well enough by now, Naru, to know I would never do something like that when someone I care about is in danger."

He heaved a sigh heavy with the burden of carrying something much too great for him alone and she felt a jolt of sympathy. She supposed she could be at least just a little bit more accommodating towards his wishes, but her character wouldn't allow it. Not because she liked being difficult. But because his wishes sometimes went against her very nature. If she just went along with whatever he wanted she wouldn't be herself anymore. Would be something else entirely, something he'd turned her into unwittingly. And she couldn't stand for that. She _wouldn't_.

"I will tell you why I may not appear to be overly concerned with Miss Hara's disappearance, Mai," Naru started in a low voice. "Make no mistake, I _am_ concerned. I just don't think we should risk ourselves to do it."

"And why is that?"

"Because of what you said to me. You said the man said his master wasn't particularly fond of damaged goods. Which means to me that hidden beneath his morbid words is the fact that he won't hurt Miss Hara until her ankle has been healed. And if I'm not mistaken it takes about six weeks for a sprained ankle to heal."

Mai pondered his words. She tried desperately to believe that logic, to entertain the idea that maybe Masako wasn't in such grave danger until she became whole again, but the fear and the guilt were much stronger than she had ever imagined. Naru's words, though assumptions at best, still held a ring of truth to them. Why else would the strange man have gone to the trouble of bandaging her up?

"Maybe you're right," she amended quietly.

"I know I am," he ruined it by saying. "Now let's get out of here as quickly as humanly possible. I don't like the fact that we're so exposed."

Mai glanced around. The forest moved silently around her and Naru. Now that she was thinking clearly again she could feel something eerie about the way the branches moved, the way the leaves beneath their feet swayed. It rose goose bumps on her arms and she was suddenly grateful that she wasn't alone. She instinctively took a step closer to Naru and the towering warmth of comfort and familiarity he represented in this foreign place.

"Don't worry," he murmured, a tinge of warmth in his voice. "Nothing will harm you." _Not while I'm around_. The silent words didn't have to be spoken.

A sliver of something white flashed on the periphery of Mai's vision and she jumped, head turning and eyeing the trees warily. "Did you see that?" she asked in a low voice.

"Of course. Don't panic. Move, now." He was suddenly dragging her back through the trees, back to the camp site and Magnolia Dawson. He tried the handle of the cottage but it refused to budge.

"Magnolia," Mai called, banging her fist on the door. "Please let us in."

"Move," Naru said, his voice dropping an octave before he rammed his shoulder into the door.

"Naru!" Mai gasped. "Don't hurt yourself!"

He kept ramming his shoulder against the door until it crashed open. He gripped her hand in his and tugged her inside, shutting the door behind him. The room at first glance was bathed in soft candlelight. The furnishings were sparse, boasting only a single bed in the far corner, a dining room set, a little kitchen in the other corner, two chairs in front of a dying fire, and a little gnome ornament next to the fireplace.

"This will have to do for the time being," Naru said, shrugging out of his jacket and tossing it across the back of a chair. "We should be safe here until morning."

"Magnolia isn't here," Mai said softly. "Where could she have gone?"

Naru was walking around the little cottage, taking in everything at once. He paused by the shuttered window and rapped his knuckles against it. Dust drifted to the floor at the disturbance though the frame itself remained sturdy. "Magnolia?" he asked absently.

"Magnolia Dawson. She was here just a minute ago. She told me I should leave this town as soon as possible."

Naru sighed and turned to face her. "Mai, Magnolia Dawson was a Broadway actress back in the 1960's. She disappeared in the summer of '64 and no evidence of her existence after that day was noted. If you're implying that the person you met now is the _same_ Magnolia Dawson from fifty years ago, you must be mistaken."

"What are you saying?" she asked, staring at him. "That she was the spirit of Magnolia Dawson?"

"Perhaps. It's the only logical conclusion."

Mai rubbed her arms slowly. If Naru was right, and she knew the chances of that were fairly high, then she had been standing here and conversing with a ghost. And she _hadn't even realised it_. That was the thought that scared her the most.

"She didn't seem very spectre-like," Mai mumbled. "And she didn't try to hurt me. Just the opposite, in fact. She was trying to help me."

"You know very well not all spirits are malevolent. You were very lucky to run into a docile one. Are you beginning to understand now what a close call you could have had?"

Mai rolled her eyes and bit back a smile at the way he said it. She knew he was done showing his ire at her foolishness. He seemed alarmingly relaxed despite where they were and his serenity quickly robbed her of her fears. She knelt by the fire and began feeding the neatly chopped blocks of wood into the flames. She felt Naru standing behind her and tensed when she heard him release a soft breath of air.

"What is it?" she asked.

Naru dropped down on one knee behind her and reached over her shoulder, gripping the piece of wood she held in her hands. Mai's first reaction was to blush at how near he was and how his arm brushed hers as he retracted it. She jerked away and peered at him over her shoulder. She could have rolled her eyes. He was studying the piece of wood intently, not even showing the slightest of discomfort at how close he was to her.

"This is a fresh piece of wood, Mai," he uttered in a low voice. "That means either someone plans on coming back here soon, or someone expected us to be here."

 **Thanks for reading! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

 **Apologies for a very long delay. Don't know how time managed to slip by me so quickly. That's why I've uploaded two chapters. Please enjoy :)**

"Hello? Is someone there?"

Masako winced as the voice shot lances of pain through her head. She moved to sit up and was shocked to discover she was surrounded by darkness. The stone floor was icy beneath her kimono and she shivered. The steady _drip_ of water hitting the ground was the only sound echoing around her.

"Please, talk to me," the voice whispered again. "My name is Kagome Ojiro. What's yours?"

Masako couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. She closed her eyes and laid her head back down on the floor, waiting patiently for her headache to disappear. "Masako Hara. Where are we?"

"I…I don't know. I've never seen the outside."

"How long have you been here?"

"Days, weeks. There's no way to keep track of things like that when you're surrounded by such despair. I'm not even sure we're still in _Fuyuichi_."

Masako's ears perked up. " _Fuyuichi_. That's the town my friends and I are currently investigating."

"Friends? Then they can help us!" There was excitement in Kagome's voice.

"Are you alone here?" Masako asked.

"I am now," came the quiet reply. "I was here with my boyfriend. We were just passing through the town. He had heard about the rumours surrounding it, you know, and thought it would be a big joke if we went to see it. We didn't stand a chance."

"What happened?"

"I don't even know. Only that one minute I was walking behind Kazuma and the next I woke up in here. I don't even know where he is. He could be anywhere." A sob came out from the darkness.

"Don't worry. My friends are professionals. They will find us," Masako said, a surety in her voice that she wasn't feeling.

The feeling was forced for the girl and how scared she sounded. She herself wasn't feeling overly confident. Why did it have to be her? Wasn't Mai usually the one who got into this sort of trouble? She sighed and tried sitting up again, wincing in pain at the dull headache. She drew her knees in to her chest, feeling for her ankle. The bandage was still there, covered in sand but still perfectly intact.

"Why would he bandage me up and then kidnap me?" she questioned quietly. "It doesn't make sense."

"That man did the same to you, huh?" Kagome suddenly asked.

"He bandaged you too?" Masako asked in surprise, mind going over the possibilities. "Strange."

"He said his master didn't like damaged goods," the girl tried to supply helpfully.

"I know. He said the same thing to my friend and I, though why only I was taken is beyond me."

"Maybe he has a certain type?" The dryness with which she said it would have been funny to Masako if their situation hadn't been so dire.

"Perhaps you're right. What part of your body did you injure?"

"My right wrist. I sprained it as I was running away." Her voice trailed off.

"Running away from what?" Masako prompted.

"Something. I'm not sure what. Just something that kept hiding in the shadows. It never came out, not even once, and yet I knew it was there. I could _feel_ it watching me from the first moment we set foot in this creepy town."

Masako pondered over this latest piece of information. How many others had been in here, waiting to be delivered to this master? How many had lost their lives to become a paragon of perfection for some sinister purpose? Because the more she thought about it the more it was looking like that was the case.

"There have been others," a low voice said to her right.

Masako shrieked and propelled herself backwards, her back hitting the bars of the prison she was in. Both her hands covered her mouth and her body shook in fear. She hadn't even known there was someone else in this prison with her. She hadn't even sensed a presence.

"Who was that? Masako, are you all right?" Kagome asked worriedly.

"Ho, you're a pretty little thing, aren't you?" the voice continued, coming closer.

Masako shut her eyes. She wasn't equipped to deal with something like this. When she had been taken during the Urado case she had been completely useless, just hiding in a corner until Mai had found her. A stale wind brushed the left side of her hair back. She turned her head to the right, huddling in a tight ball. All of the protection charms she knew flew out of her head, mingling with her fear.

"The master will be very pleased with having such a fine figure," the voice continued. "Now if only your ankle would heal faster so he would have a perfect subject."

Perfect subject?

Masako's eyes flew open. "What do you mean? What is your master planning to do with me?"

A cackle. "Lost your fear, have you? He likes a person with spirit. Makes his creations more…lively." Another cackle.

"Creations? Your master needs me to…make something?"

"All in good time."

"Where's Kazuma?" Kagome shrieked in the next cell. "What have you done with him?"

"Kazuma? I don't know who that is but the master never wastes free resources for his subjects. And those people, what your future holds, doesn't have anything to do with going back to the outside world."


	10. Chapter 10

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

A familiar scent kept bombarding Mai's senses. She wrinkled her nose and made a small sound of protest. She was so warm where she lay, the mattress soft beneath her, and a little smile crossed her face. She inhaled deeply and snuggled further into the warmth, hoping sleep would take her again. When the scent finally registered in her half-fogged brain she jerked her eyes open. As the images in the room began to take on sharper focus memories of the night before began to filter into her brain.

She and Naru had talked last night. Not about the case, but about their personal lives. Granted, she had taken up most of that conversation with her stories but he had contributed as well, a fact that had pleasantly surprised her. He had briefly spoken about his life in England and of his brother Gene. She had seen it hadn't been easy for him to speak of his past and she hadn't bombarded him with questions she'd held inside of herself since he had first revealed his secret identity to them. Suddenly her elusive boss wasn't all that much of a mystery anymore. At least not to her. She glowed as she realised he hadn't shared this info with anyone aside from her and Lin. She doubted even Masako had managed to wrangle this much from him either.

She gripped the blanket covering her and began to raise it when she realised with stunning clarity that it wasn't a blanket at all but Naru's jacket. It was splayed over her curled up form, providing warmth to almost every part of her body. She blushed as she rubbed her fingers over the material and smiled tenderly. Until she remembered where exactly she had fallen asleep. Her eyes flew to the chair in front of the fire place. The last thing she could remember from last night was being curled up in the chair in front of the toasty fire. She had laid her head on the arm rest and had drifted off to the deep timbre of Naru's voice. So then how had she ended up on the bed? Had he…had he _carried_ her there? Her entire face heated and she buried it in Naru's jacket with a little groan of embarrassment. How had she slept through _that_?

"You're finally awake. Good. We need to get a move on," Naru's voice drifted to her.

Mai peered over the jacket to his tall form leaning casually against the doorjamb of the cottage, arms crossed over his chest. The door was open and bathing him in soft sunlight. When he turned his midnight eyes her way she felt a strange fluttering sensation in her stomach, so unlike anything she had ever felt before pertaining to him. Maybe it was because of last night and the unlikely bond that had started to form. She grinned at him and swung her legs over the edge, gripping his jacket in her fist.

He raised an eyebrow at her as she tossed his jacket his way and silently caught it as it began its descent. "Thank you," she said. "For…you know."

For a second Mai thought she saw the lightest tinge of pink emerge onto Naru's cheeks but he didn't give her time to stare. He cleared his throat and inclined his head. "You're welcome," he said, shifting uncomfortably. "You didn't look very comfortable in that chair. I thought the bed might be better."

"And where did you sleep?"

The unexpected question that was wrenched from her lips and the stunned look in his eyes made them both hesitate in embarrassment. Mai was berating herself for asking such a question when she knew he probably stayed in the chair the entire night, if he hadn't lain awake and watched for any suspicious activity.

"The chair," he finally responded in a very low voice, avoiding her eyes.

Mai looked away and got to her feet, stretching her arms over her head to work out the sleeping muscles. When she happened to glance back at Naru she found his gaze on her, eyes shielding what he was really thinking.

"Were you keeping watch last night? In case anyone happened to come by?" she asked as she moved toward him.

"For the most part," he answered shortly, glancing back out the door. "It was pretty quiet."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"On the contrary. It was much quieter than a forest is supposed to be. Like something was keeping an eye on us with baited breath. I didn't like it one bit."

Mai felt goose bumps rise on her forearms. "What does that mean?"

Naru's lips were set in a grim line. "Whatever was out there could have attacked us at any time, but it didn't. That's what concerns me. What was it waiting for?"

"Who was it really after?" Mai said in a quiet voice.

"Exactly," Naru said. "And I suspect you were the target."

"Me?" Mai spun startled eyes up at him.

"Of course. It was always you, right from the start. When you were lured out of the bed and breakfast all the way out here. You really didn't think it was a coincidence that you found this place by chance, right?"

Mai thought back to the strange sensations she had felt the night before when she had been drawn here. More like _pulled_ here by some invisible force. _Magnolia Dawson_. She didn't doubt for a moment that Magnolia hadn't been involved in that. It didn't make sense for the girl to draw her out into the middle of the forest and then tell her to run away as fast as she could.

"No," she said softly. "I don't think it was a coincidence. But I also doubt Magnolia's involvement in this."

She could feel Naru's gaze on her. "You seem awfully attached to her despite your brief acquaintance."

"I promised Magnolia I'd save her," Mai admitted, avoiding his gaze, knowing what he was going to say.

Naru sighed. "You have a questionable habit of doing things like that. Why would you make a promise of that magnitude when you don't know whether you can keep it or not?"

"Because I believe we can save her."

"Mai…"

"Naru, please. Even if there isn't even the slightest possibility of helping her you know I will keep searching for one until I find it. And if there is a chance of saving her, I will take it. I'm not like you. I can't choose the people I save at random."

He closed his eyes. "Is that what you think I do? After everything I shared with you last night you still feel that way?"

Mai took a step back, stunned at the sudden change in his voice. He sounded so…forlorn it was heart breaking. She lowered her eyes guiltily. She didn't know why she deliberately baited him all the time. Maybe deep down some secret part of her enjoyed crossing hairs with him. Or maybe it was just her running off at the mouth as usual. She surprised herself and Naru by chuckling.

"No, I'm sorry I said that. I don't believe it. It's just that sometimes what you stand for goes against my beliefs," she said, raising mirth-filled eyes his way, a grin curving her lips upward. She swore she saw a blush tinge his cheeks for the second time but he shook his head, the line of his mouth softening.

"So it's not that you just like to be difficult then? Because that's what I would have assumed," he said.

Mai stared at him. "Was that a joke? Did you just make a joke, Naru?"

"Why are you surprised? I am capable of that particular feat. I'm still human, you know."

"I…I know that," she murmured, smiling at him. "Better than most."

Naru's eyes crinkled at the corners and he inclined his head. "All right. We've spent enough time at this place. Shall we?" He raised his arm in front of him indicating he wanted her to walk first. She smiled at him again as she moved past him, those fleeting smiles that made his heart skip a beat every single time. And it was so because he'd noticed a long time ago that the smiles she bestowed on him were slightly different from the ones she showed everyone else.

"Naru, come on. Stop daydreaming," Mai called back to him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Before he left the cottage he cast a glance at the bed in which he'd carried Mai to the night before. It had been like lifting a feather, she was so small. She'd curled so trustingly in his arms, fitting like she belonged there. He was ashamed to admit he hadn't been entirely truthful with her about exactly where he'd spent the night, though he hadn't been completely lying as well. He _had_ spent some parts of the night in the chair in front of the fireplace. Still, he supposed she wouldn't appreciate the fact that at one point in the silent night he'd laid his head on the pillow beside hers and listened to the sound of her little breaths as he'd fallen asleep. He'd been astounded that he'd relaxed his guard around her so much that he'd unwittingly put them both in danger, most especially _her_ , by falling asleep. Maybe one day he would confess to her about what he'd done.

Naru closed his eyes, a small and rare smile crossing his face as he shut the door to the cottage behind him.

Five minutes after Naru and Mai departed the cottage the little gnome next to the fireplace swung his dark, beady eyes away from the door and focused on the wall again. A chilling grin widened his mouth as he waited patiently for his master to summon him.

 **:)**


	11. Chapter 11

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

 **Apologies for the delay! Hope you guys are still enjoying this :)**

"Are you all right?" Monk asked as he peered intently into Mai's eyes. "He didn't do anything weird to you, did he?"

Mai immediately blushed as she thought back to Naru carrying her to the bed the night before but she couldn't tell Monk that. He took it upon himself anyway that Naru had been less than savoury at the redness of her cheeks. He tossed the offender a withering glare.

"What did you do to her to make her react this way, huh?"

"Monk, he did nothing," Mai exclaimed. "I swear to you."

"You don't have to go that far, Mai," Naru said in a superior tone. "It's none of his business in any case."

"What? You don't have to be rude when you say that, Naru," Monk huffed.

Naru ignored him and looked to Lin. "Did anything happen while we were out?" he asked.

Lin shook his head. "Nothing out of the ordinary. At dawn we tried exploring the houses on either side of the B&B. What about you?" Mai sensed that Lin's question held more than just its simple intention.

"Interesting. Nothing as well. Given the violent way in which we were brought here and the sinister intention behind Miss Hara's kidnapping, I'm a little surprised everything was so serene."

"I still can't get rid of the feeling of being watched," Ayako said, rubbing her arms absently.

Automatically everyone took the next few seconds to peer at their surroundings. Even in the scorching light of the sun everything still looked warped in darkness. Mai felt the hairs at the nape of her neck stand on end. In that split second she thought she could _feel_ someone boring holes into her. Her eyes touched on every house in her line of sight, slowly measuring which presence was giving her such restlessness. When she came to the bakery at the end of the street her gaze locked onto it.

That was it. That was where the sinister feeling was coming from. She narrowed her eyes, studying the dark glass windows stained with dust and grime. There was a giant hole in the other window, deadly shards of crystal littering the ground below it. From where she stood she couldn't see inside the store but she swore she saw something suddenly move deeper into the shadows.

"See something, kiddo?" Monk asked at her side.

Mai glanced up at his worried face and shook her head, unsure why she had just omitted what she had seen. Maybe the sun was playing tricks on her. But she knew that to be a feeble attempt at trying to convince herself they were going to get Masako back and make it safe and sound out of this creepy old town. She wasn't sure of that anymore. She wasn't sure of anything.

"Where do we start looking for Masako?" John asked.

"I think we should start at the church where Mai said she last was," Ayako said.

"Possibly. I want to split into groups. That way we can cover more ground before the sun sets. But don't wander too far and if anything happens, scream. We'll hear you," Naru began. "Just don't forget we're also working this case. Given what we know versus what we don't I'd like you all to be very wary of what's out there. The only thing we have to rely on is our wits."

"I still can't believe you wanted to scope out this town without any equipment at all," Monk muttered dryly. "That's so unlike you. What did you do the last time you were here to make the spirits of this place want to isolate us like that?"

Naru didn't answer, just rested his gaze on Monk once before moving to Lin. "You're with me. There's something I want to check out at the outskirts of the town's exit."

"As if I would have had it any other way," Lin muttered darkly and Mai stifled a giggle, suddenly remembering one of her private conversations with Madoka where the older woman had teased her about Naru eloping with Lin.

"John, I want you to stick with Miss Matsuzaki, and Monk," Naru paused, pinning him with an intense look. "You will protect Mai."

Mai was about to protest but it died in her throat when Naru's gaze quickly moved over her, enough for her to catch the loaded look in his eyes. She bit her lip and nodded instead, and thought she saw a brief smile tilt the corner of his mouth up.

"All right, kiddo, it's you and me," Monk said with a grin, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "Try not to drag me into any trouble you land into, all right?"

"You make me sound like one of those pathetic heroines who always get thrust headlong into danger," Mai muttered.

"If the shoe fits," he said, putting a fist in front of his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"Remember, if anything happens, don't do anything foolish. Come and find Lin or me," Naru grounded out, an odd note to his tone. "I'm mostly talking about you, Mai."

"Yes, I kind of got that," she said with chagrin. "But it doesn't always happen to me, you know!"

"Not always, but mostly," Ayako said with a laugh. "All right, John. Let's go, shall we?"

They headed in the same direction as Naru and Lin but branched off into an alleyway while the other two continued straight down the pathway. Mai watched them for a moment, her eyes taking in the broadness of Naru's shoulders. A blush heated her cheeks again as she thought back to him carrying her again. _Focus_ , she scolded herself. _You're searching for Masako_.

"Do you get any ill-omened feelings from this place, Mai?" Monk asked, scratching his head as he looked around.

"Creeped out is the only thing I'm getting right now," she mumbled.

"Let's head down toward the forest. You're familiar with that area, aren't you?"

Mai silently followed Monk as he walked. They passed by the old bakery and she paused by the broken glass, peering inside the darkened interior. Wooden tables were sprawled across the floor, some chairs neatly in place while others were in disarray. There was even plates of what had once been food on the tables and little blue patterned tea sets. She was about to enter the little store when Monk called out loudly for her. She cast a wary glance at it, determined to find out what was in there later, before setting off to join him.

"You okay? You seem a little off. Does it have anything to do with what happened yesterday?" Monk asked quietly. "Because you know it's not your fault, Mai. If you had tried helping Masako you might have gotten seriously injured in the process, given what you've told us about her kidnapper."

"I know, but I still can't help feeling like it is. This is like the Urado case all over again, but worse because she was right there in front of me and I could do nothing but watch him take her," Mai said.

"It's easy saying you could risk your life to save someone else's when you're not directly in that kind of situation. But when you're facing it head on it's a completely different story."

Mai took a deep breath, counted to ten, and released it slowly. She knew Monk was right. She should snap out of this phase she seemed to be suspended in. It wouldn't do for him to worry about her rather than focusing his energy into saving Masako. Besides, she really was okay. She had Naru to thank for helping dissolve the uncertainty in her heart. But she couldn't tell Monk that.

They continued further down the pathway, away from the stores, and closer to the edge of the forest. Perhaps that was why they failed to notice the small figure skittering across the pathway behind them and jumping through the cracked window and into the darkened bakery.

 **Thanks for reading :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

"You seem to know exactly where you're going," Lin said casually.

Naru shot him a bored glance before moving his gaze to the houses surrounding them. Of course he knew where he was going. Lin was aware of the fact that he had been here before. If he stopped to think about it perhaps that was why he had angered the spirits in this place. Unintentionally, he might add.

He had just been curious about this place. Apart from what Madoka had told him he himself had heard the rumours of something far darker than he could ever imagine haunting this town. Not through the grapevine. Through his social network of parapsychology researchers. Lin had also heard about the kind of rumours floating around yet he chose to ignore them. His thirst for answers wasn't as great as Naru's.

"Are you going to continue to ignore me about being here before, Naru?" Lin asked, a little bit of anger tinging his voice.

"There's nothing to discuss about it. I was here before. And I left unscathed. Isn't that enough?" Naru asked with a sigh.

"It was Madoka, wasn't it? She was here with you. There was no way you could have gotten to _Fuyuichi_ without the use of a vehicle and the last time I checked, you can't drive, and neither do you own one."

"Fine, I was here with Madoka. Are you satisfied?"

"Hardly. I wish you hadn't gone behind my back on this, Naru. You know exactly what your parents would say about it."

"Your job is not to monitor my every movement, and neither is it to restrict it," Naru said without missing a beat. "If you can't separate that from your true purpose here then it would be best to leave."

Lin was silent, no doubt silently fuming at Naru's audacity. Oh well, he had never restricted the use of his words when it came to Lin and the older man knew that. Actually, he had never felt the need to hold back anything when it came to anyone. They all got the full brunt of his ire when it was due. He shook his head and continued down the path, looking for the theatre.

"What did you and Madoka do while you were here?" Lin finally asked, his voice lower than normal.

"We set up a few cameras here."

"For what purpose?"

"I wanted to see the extent of the damages before I risked involving everyone else."

"And what was your conclusion?"

Naru was silent as he thought back to what he and Madoka had seen on the monitors, what had caused him to immediately set out for this place without informing everyone about it. It had scared him enough to want to solve it as quickly as possible with no more resulting casualties. And yet now that he was here he wasn't so sure he could do it.

"We need to stop this before more people disappear. Namely the people in our group," he finally replied.

"Namely Mai?"

Naru ignored the comment, knowing he could hide nothing when it came to her. He refused to let Lin see that, even though he most definitely already knew. He had been with him, after all, when he had purchased the Monarch butterfly for Mai. He had probably known even before then, as silently observant as he was.

"We're here," he said instead.

The theatre loomed in front of them, shrouded in darkness. It looked ragged and worn down from fifty years of neglect. The sign board was missing a few letters. The windows were caked in grime and cobwebs glinted when a beam of sunlight caught it. The door was left slightly ajar. Naru knew he had closed it firmly behind him when he and Madoka had left it three days ago.

"Someone was here," he murmured, reaching out to push the door open so he could slip through.

"Naru, wait for me," Lin protested, struggling to open the door further to accommodate his taller frame.

The inside was as dark as Naru had remembered. Of course, he didn't have a flash light with him. That had shattered when Lin's van had flipped over. He would have to rely on memory alone. He closed his eyes and concentrated, remembering every detail as best as he could. There was an entryway into the theatre hall a few steps ahead to his right. He took a step forward, then another, fingers reaching out to glide across the wall. When he felt the open door to his right he turned to face it. He knew there were curtains blocking the hall from view.

"Hurry up, Lin," Naru said in annoyance. "We're running on precious time here."

"Right behind you."

Naru flipped past the curtains and came to an abrupt halt at the top of the stairs, staring with an amazed look on his face at the stage where he, Madoka and Yasu had set up a few cameras. For starters there was a spot light illuminating only the stage area, more specifically the area where his cameras were. And then there were the cameras themselves. Every single one of them had been smashed to pieces, littering across the stage in some macabre fashion, the film glittering at him under the spot light.

"It's destroyed," Naru muttered. "He destroyed every single one of them. How rude."

"He? What else are you hiding, Naru? What did you see on the monitors? And why haven't you told the others? They deserve to know."

"I don't think it would make them feel better if they knew," Naru responded shortly. "Isn't it worrying, that we've had quite a few cases where the spirits aren't afraid to show themselves to us anymore?"

"Yes. You think it has a connection to what those men who sealed Ammit were up to?"

"Definitely. If there is a change in the balance, the spirits would be able to sense it as well. Far greater and far better than we humans would be able to. So the fact that they seem to be acting strangely means that something has been set in motion. It means that something has changed that we're unaware of. It's making me nervous, Lin. Very nervous."

A loud creak ripped through the air, causing both of them to stiffen. Naru was on high alert for whatever was out there with them, hidden by the darkness in the theatre. It was surprisingly big for such a small town. He knew from his earlier visit that the red cushioned seats coated thick with dust extended far over their heads and dipped low as it neared the stage. Still, he stayed rooted to the spot, unwilling to proceed any further to the stage where his cameras lay in ruins. He was standing in front of the only exit, after all. The back entrance to the stage had been barricaded off, as if trying to prevent something from leaving. It was…odd.

Movement on the stage had Lin raising his fingers to his mouth, ready to whistle for his _shiki_. Naru gripped his arm, jerking it down violently. He wanted to see in person what they were up against. He peered at the stage, to where a little boy sat among the debris that were once his cameras. He blinked at them emotionlessly, cocking his head to one side and then the other. He wasn't the only one to notice something off about him.

"Is that…a puppet?" Lin asked in disbelief. "There's no mistaking those eyes. The glassy shimmer of a doll's eyes."

"It would appear so," Naru whispered. "Although he looks real enough to me."

Suddenly the boy sprung up into the air, suspended with his arms apart as if something were holding him up from that. Then he began to jerk violently from one side to the next, head lolling around uselessly. Naru didn't miss the way the razor thin strings attached to the boy's arms, no his joints, glinted sinisterly in the spot light. So it wasn't just any puppet, he mused to himself.

"That's a life size marionette," Lin said in awe. "I've never seen one of them up close before."

Naru suddenly jerked his gaze to the rafters above the stage. The darkness seemed to hover like a giant cloud of poison above the spot light, never reaching further than the same level. _A life size marionette huh_ , he thought. _If that's the case there must be someone controlling it_ _ **.**_

"He could be here," Naru said quietly. "Let's go, Lin."

He bounded down the stairs, heading directly for the stairs when Lin grabbed his arms and jerked him to a violent stop.

"Naru, wait! You don't know what this person is capable of. If you run in head first you'd be getting yourself into more trouble than its worth. Think about it for a second," Lin snapped. "Let's convene with the others and come back with them. We're stronger as a group."

"No, it's too late for that. He could be long gone by the time we return. It has to be now," Naru said in a rush, struggling against Lin's strength. He knew he could knock him on his ass with no effort at all but he didn't want to hurt him.

"Help me," a high-pitched little voice interrupted them.

Naru and Lin turned as one toward the stage, where the little boy was hanging limply in the air. "Did he speak?" Naru asked.

"Please," the boy said again. "He won't let me go. I just want to go home. Help me. Save me."

"What's your name?" Naru called.

The boy cocked his head to one side. "Reiji," he said after a while. "They used to call me Reiji, I think."

Suddenly the boy was jerked, his little wooden body being pulled mercilessly on either side. He was silent, eyes still as indifferent as when he had first propelled onto the stage. Before either Naru or Lin could react his little body splintered down the middle, either side of him being tossed to each end of the stage uselessly. The boy didn't speak, lay deathly still. The viciousness of such an attack had rendered Naru speechless. He was cold all over as a result, horror consuming him at the thought of that happening to any one of his friends. _Mai_.

"So we've got a malevolent spirit who isn't afraid to display such bouts of fury," Lin said quietly. "That changes things."

"No, it doesn't," Naru snarled. "It just makes it more satisfying to destroy. Let's go, Lin. There isn't another way for that puppet master to escape. We've got him cornered."

"Naru, wait!"

Yet when Naru reached the top level above the spot light there was no one there. Lin met him on the other side, staring down at the stage and the pieces of what once was the little boy.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

It had been another worthless day of searching for clues to where Masako could be. Mai was wide awake, staring at the ceiling in the room she shared with Ayako. The other woman was sound asleep, her even breaths not even able to lull Mai into a deep sleep. Too many thoughts were running through her mind, too many worst case scenarios repeating themselves over and over and over again.

When Naru had informed them of what had happened in the theatre they all agreed it would be best to stick together from then on out. Mai agreed as well, though her concern for Masako was well above that of her own, and it would stay that way until they found her. _If they found her_ , a dark inner voice whispered to Mai. She shook her head angrily, and hopped off the bed. She quietly snuck out of the room and made her way downstairs.

The lounge was dark and she paused on the stairs, allowing her eyes to get used to the darkness. She made her way over to the window and watched the street. Nothing moved. Everything was as silent as it should be, although she knew different. She knew something was hiding just beneath the cover of what should have been normalcy. Even as she stood, concealed by the bed and breakfast, she could still feel eyes on her. The fact that it wasn't creeping her out made her wonder what she was really afraid of. If it wasn't this, then what was it?

Perhaps she had become so used to the idea of spirits around her as the number of cases SPR had taken on increased that they no longer held any sway over her fear. But other things could. And did. If she had nothing else to fear it was the thought of something that could cause the Spirit World to collapse that kept her awake at nights. It also hadn't escaped her that Naru and Lin still hadn't said anything to them about it. It was starting to become a heavier burden than it should have been.

Suddenly the hair at the back of Mai's neck stood on end and goose bumps rose on her forearms. It was that same feeling. The one she had experienced when all of them had been standing in front of the bed and breakfast that morning. Her eyes shot down to the bakery but it was beyond the reach of the window. It took her a split second to decide on her course of action. It was one of the most stupid and dangerous things she could ever do but she wouldn't back down just because she didn't want to face Naru's ire when he found out.

She slipped out of the front door and strode with determined barefooted steps towards the source of her current disposition. She didn't want to go back upstairs for her shoes and risk waking up someone, particularly Naru. His mood had been as black as night after the incident at the theatre and she didn't harbour any doubts that it would change over the next twenty-four hours.

The bakery loomed like a menacing force the nearer she got. As she got closer to the giant hole in the window she hesitated, wondering for a moment if she would be better off waking Naru anyway instead of doing this alone. In the next second she dismissed it because she knew exactly what he would do. He would try and forbid her from going into the bakery, regardless of whether she was with someone or not and she couldn't let that happen. Maybe she could find some sort of direction in this case.

A lustreless sweep of light flickered along the edges of the bakery, too dull to be seen from much farther away. It reached out, as if alive, caressing the floor right beneath the hole before skittering away. Hurriedly Mai placed her foot inside of the bakery and hefted herself in, careful to avoid the deadly ragged edges. She glanced around quickly, trying to locate where the light was coming from. Her eyes caught sight of that same dull light illuminating from behind a door on the other side of the counter.

Without missing a beat she rounded the counter and stepped up to the door. She tried the handle and it opened soundlessly, for something that was supposed to have been old and creaking from lack of use for decades. It didn't strike her as odd though and she continued on as normal. The light that had been there had vanished and she struggled to step forward, almost tumbling head first down the surprise staircase. She slapped her hands on either side of the wall and slowly lowered them, silently cheering when her fingers clasped a flaky railing, probably rusting with age. The roiling smell of iron hit her and she wrinkled her nose.

The light that had been teasing her suddenly illuminated the landing at the bottom. Then it slid away just as quickly. Mai rushed down the stairs, using the railing as leverage, never once releasing it until she got to the bottom. There her hands found purchase on the walls as she picked up a brisk pace. She slammed into a door, crying out loudly and rubbing her head, where a migraine threatened.

She felt for the handle but it wouldn't open. She frowned. There was only one doorway down the corridor. She was pretty damned sure about it. The light that had been illuminating it was not a part of her imagination. It was real. And this was its only exit. Unless she had missed something along the way. Slowly she turned her head to gaze back at the corridor swallowed by darkness. Even her eyes couldn't see ten centimetres in front of her.

Alone in the dark, with something other than herself in the same vicinity, she started to feel a tinge of fear. She didn't think that whatever was out there would harm her. If that were the case then it would have attacked long before now instead of trying to lure her into…a…trap. She silently cursed her impetuousness. She was just as bad as Naru, if not worse. If she weren't careful she might find herself missing, just like Masako.

Suddenly a grating sound filled the air, the locks grinding as the door slowly creaked an inch open. Mai took a step back, a chill running down her spine. As the door opened another inch she took another step back, ready to flee from whatever danger lurked on the other side. Her body was rigid with tension that emanated into the air around her, almost suffocating her. Perspiration beaded on her forehead and she wiped a drop that rolled down her temple. She didn't know what was possessing her to stay put when a normal person would have already run away screaming. But then again, she wasn't exactly _normal_ was she? If there was a spirit that needed to be sent to the other side, the Spirit World, then she would be the one to do it. At least _that_ ability, being ghost-kissed, would come in useful. _She_ would be useful, even though she'd probably get the most blistering set down of her life.

"Look, it's a guest. We have another guest," a high-pitched cackle came from beyond the door. "And it's a girl. We like girls, don't we, Saya?"

"Definitely, Maya. Much more delicate than boys. Like that nasty one that stampeded through here a few weeks ago," a higher pitched cackle came.

"Got what he deserved, didn't he?" A lower voice this time.

"I do kind of miss him though. Do you remember how scared he looked when he saw us? How fast he tried to get away?" A cackle.

"He even left behind that girl that was with him. What a boorish beast. What kind of a man does that?"

Mai was dumbfounded at the fast conversation flowing from beyond her vision. Her heart was thundering so hard in her chest she was afraid it was going to beat right out of her chest. None of these voices sounded close to what Magnolia had sounded like. She took a step closer and peered in through the crack. A dull light bounced around the walls and she eased herself even closer, practically almost squeezing herself through the space when the door was wrenched open fully and she fell flat on her face. She groaned and rubbed her head, rolling onto her back.

And froze.

In the dim lighting, four faces were peering down at her, half-hidden by the shadows. What was showing of their faces included little sharp and pointy teeth and hooked noses. Their eyes were hidden, making her even more nervous. She could feel the burn of their stares on her, more intense than when she had been outside of the bed and breakfast. She was afraid to move, afraid to even speak, when one of them spoke in a low voice.

"Hello, love. Welcome to our little slice of hell."

 **Thanks for reading! :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**I do not own Ghost Hunt**.

Mai was sitting at the weirdest tea party she had ever seen. When she had fallen into their room the quadruplets, Saya, Maya, Kaya, and Winifred, had pulled her to her feet and forced her to join them in this macabre version of a tea party. They were sitting at a huge round table that seated eight with a single candle in the centre, casting menacing shadows across the room. Opposite her, in place where a cute little doll should have been, was a life size one, complete with painted facial features that had seen better days. And that was where what little pleasantness flew out the door.

The doll was missing both its eyes. They weren't just misplaced. It seemed like someone had gouged them out. The spring for one eye glinted ominously in the candle light, half hidden by the empty socket. The mouth was drooping low, and not because of the paint. Something had smudged it enough to look like a horror version of what it was supposed to be. And it kept staring at her. She felt shivers pass her every few seconds, glancing back at the doll. She swore its mouth curved up into a sinister smile.

"So tell us what you are doing here, love?" one of the sisters asked.

"Dangerous place to be roaming around, you know." Another sister.

"I'm surprised you managed to survive the spirits in the forest."

"Never seen anyone come to this town that way before. It was sorely entertaining, wasn't it, Winifred?"

"'Deed it was. That Maverick was bored, wasn't he?"

"Suppose he was. I would be too, if I were given the tedious job of hauling in potential victims. At least this gives him an added thrill."

Mai could barely follow the speed of the conversation. She was trying to think of some way to extricate herself from the mess she had gotten herself into. If only she had woken Naru up first. No, she had already exhausted that reasoning. Perhaps these ladies could give her a clue as to what was going on. They seemed to know who that man who kidnapped Masako was. Maybe they knew her location as well.

"This Maverick guy," Mai started. "Do you know where he is?"

"Well, he's everywhere, love. No telling where he might pop up."

"He did say he would stop by and visit us soon, didn't he?"

"Why would he? He knows we don't like boys. Though for him I'd make an exception. Fine piece of wood, isn't he?"

"If that boy that was here had turned out half as good as Maverick we would have kept him, wouldn't we?"

"Piece of wood? What do you mean?" Mai asked.

"Beautiful layering of birch wood, he has, love."

"Don't you know, it's very shock resistant."

"He was the first one the master created."

"And he was one of the longest lasting ones around."

"You mean apart from us."

"Of course."

"Longest lasting what?" Mai was dumbfounded.

All four sets of eyes swung her way and she swallowed hard, desperately fighting the urge to jump up and run. She had no doubt that they would let her go. If they wanted to harm her they would have done so already instead of forcing her to participate in this horror movie. But she couldn't risk the chance that they could tell her something pertinent in Masako's rescue, and maybe even the solution of this case.

"Have you never heard of a puppet, love?" one of the sisters asked. Kaya? No, wasn't that Saya?

"A what? A puppet? That's what the guy who took Masako is?" she asked in alarm. "That's what…you are?"

"Of course. What did you think we were?"

"Come now, love, I thought you would have been smarter than that. After all, you managed to find us, didn't you?"

"Not everyone can find us, you know. That alone tells us you're special."

"Extremely special, Maya. Can't you tell what she is?"

"Of course I can, Kaya. I'm not blind, you know."

Eerily their heads turned her way again, making goose bumps rise on her forearms at how unnatural that movement looked. Eyes bored into her, peering intensely at her. She gulped and averted her gaze to stare down at the empty plate that had been put in front of her and the plastic cup to her right.

"She's ghost-kissed," one of the sisters whispered in a low voice.

Mai's head snapped up. "You know about that?"

"Of course we do, love. We are spirits, aren't we?"

"Spirits and the other ghost-kissed are the only ones who can tell that you are ghost-kissed, you know."

"You should have known that already without us having to tell you. It doesn't bode well that you don't know the full extent of your capabilities."

"And you do?" she asked, sitting forward in her seat.

As one, all of the other sisters leaned forward in their seats as well. Mai waited with baited breath to hear what they would tell her. This was it. The people who would be able to enlighten her to the full extent of her ability. They would succeed where none had before. And not for lack of trying. After the Ammit case she herself had delved into the research about being ghost-kissed but, as Madoka had informed her before, she hadn't found any written record about it, not even the tiniest reference. She was living with this ability without even knowing how to fully harness it. It was incredibly frustrating.

"You're our ticket out of here," one of the sisters breathed.

Mai sat back, startled. They were all eyeing her with a desperate craving and she suddenly began to feel like she shouldn't have come out here in the first place. She abruptly stood, the chair dragging across the floor loudly. "Ex-excuse me, I think I need to get going."

"Stay. Tell her to stay, Saya," one sister said, getting up as well and moving silently to her side. "You can't leave now, Mai. Not yet."

"Yes, you must stay," another whispered eerily, creeping closer.

"I…I want to go back," Mai said, taking another step back, trying desperately not to let the tremor show in her voice. She cursed her impulsive nature again, the one that caused her to put herself into unnecessary danger.

The four sisters started to advance on her, backing her into a corner. They surrounded her in a tight formation, too tight for her to break through. She swallowed hard and quickly tried to think of a way to escape. Identical looks of glee formed on their mouths, revealing tiny sharp teeth. All the blood rushed out of Mai's face. She kept repeating to herself that they wouldn't hurt her, that they needed her to escape from this place. If that's what they even meant.

Right before they closed the semi-circle around her they all paused, blinking slowly, then turning as one to face the door.

"Someone is coming," a sister whispered.

"It's a boy. We don't like boys," another muttered with disdain.

"You've said that already, Kaya."

"Naru." Mai breathed. "Please let it be you."

For the first time she hoped it was he who had found her. He had always been the one to bail her out of tight situations. She struggled to get past the sisters, who formed an even tighter barricade in front of her and the door.

"Out of my way," she snapped, shoving at them hard.

To her surprise, despite their tough-looking exterior, they were extremely light. They were easily sprawled out of her way when she applied her full strength. Without waiting for them to recover she dashed for the door. Before she wrenched it open a sister spoke loudly to her, words she hadn't thought to hear, especially coming from them.

"We know what you're going to do, Mai."

"We know you're going to make the world burn."

"He's coming, isn't he?"

"The creature that has been eluding you since you found out about him all those weeks ago."

"Make no mistake, Mai. He _is_ coming. And when he does, the world _will_ burn."

 **Thanks for reading :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

 ** **Wah! I can't believe so much time has passed so quickly! _Sumimasen! Please enjoy :)_****

Mai dropped her hand from the door knob and turned slowly to face the quadruplets. She watched them warily as her entire body trembled. They knew? They knew what was coming? They could tell her what she would be up against. What they all would be up against. Her nightmares during the Ammit case flooded back to her in an instant. In her mind's eye she saw the world burning again and saw herself standing over the corpses of her friends. She shut her eyes and shook her head violently to get rid of those disturbing images.

"Tell me what you know," she ordered, taking a step forward.

A sister stepped up. "We will tell you what you want to know. But only on the condition that you help us."

Mai hesitated. She didn't know if what they would tell her was the absolute truth but she couldn't pass up on this chance. Naru hadn't mentioned anything about the Spirit World after they had sealed Ammit back in her grave. She hadn't pressed the issue either but it disturbed her a little that on the outside he didn't show the least bit of interest in finding out what was coming. It also didn't escape her that she could use the sisters to gain ground in the case they were supposed to be working. They might even be able to tell her where Masako was.

"I will help you on two conditions," Mai started slowly. "The first is that you tell me everything you know about what's been happening in this town. And the second is that you tell me what you know about whomever is coming. All right?" When the sisters hesitated Mai added the final part of the deal. "One condition represents me helping only two of you. So if the other two need my help to move on, as that's what I'm assuming you need me for, then you will agree to my demands."

After a moment of silence the sisters began to chuckle eerily. "That's why we like girls," one of them cackled. "So devious."

"Of course, we agree to your deal," another said.

"But first you need to take care of the boy on the other side of the door."

"Huh?"

Mai spun and wrenched the door open. To her surprise Monk tumbled into the room, landing at her feet in a heap. He groaned loudly and sat up, rubbing his side. The sisters hissed at him, keeping well away from him. He stared at them for a second before jumping to his feet and dragging her out of there.

"Monk, stop it," she cried out. "Let go! They have information we need to save Masako. Monk!"

"What the hell were you thinking, kiddo?" he muttered fiercely. "I knew you lied to me this afternoon about this place, Mai, I _knew_ it. Why did you think you couldn't tell me about this? Or even Naru, for that matter?"

Mai yanked her arm back with all her strength. Monk, obviously not expecting that show of defiance on her part, released her. "This is exactly the reason why. As if you or Naru would have let me come here by myself if I had told you."

"Why would we?" Monk exploded in a whisper. "Or have you forgotten that Masako was taken? We can't afford to have another member of SPR go missing. It's too dangerous, Mai."

"And yet I'm still fine!" she snapped, cranky beyond reasoning. Now she was glad it wasn't Naru who had found her. If it had been him he wouldn't have let go of her until he had locked her up in her room. "Those…women…could tell us how to find Masako. How can you ask me to just let that slip by without at least trying to grab a hold of it? Would you do the same?"

Monk hesitated before sighing deeply. "You're right, of course. Any clue at this point would be gold." The frown came back on his face. "But don't think that Naru won't hear about this, Mai."

She nodded. "His reaction doesn't matter to me regarding this. I stand by that, Monk. I'd also like to ask you to wait outside while I speak to the sisters."

"No way," Monk protested loudly. "You don't know what they're capable of."

"I know that they need my help to get out of here. That leaves me with all the power. They won't hurt me. You, on the other hand, I can't guarantee."

Monk grumbled to himself, clearly fighting with the outcome, but giving in nonetheless. "All right, fine. But I will be right outside this door if you need me, okay?"

Mai nodded, a thin smile appearing on her face. "Thank you."

She turned back and walked into the room. The sisters were as she had left them, hovering in the far corner of the room. When they saw her their stances relaxed a little and they came forward as one.

"Shut the door," one said in a low voice.

Mai did as she was bade to do. Then she made her way over to the round table and sat down, waiting for the sisters to do the same before she started voicing her questions. "What is going on in this town?"

"Something dreadful," a sister said quietly. "We've been trapped here for decades. We just want to rest in peace but he won't let us."

"Who won't let you? The master?" Mai questioned.

"Yes. He bound our departed souls to these…these soulless creatures," another answered, lifting up an arm and gesturing wildly. "Every single one of us. Even Maverick."

"Maverick isn't like us. He prefers to be a good little soldier. Doing the master's bidding without question. Always hunting them down, always dragging them against their will. Even if they hide he _always_ finds them. There is no place to hide from Maverick."

Chills swept down Mai's spine. "Then does that mean the only reason why we are still safe is because he is letting us?"

"Yes. No one can hide from Maverick. If you are free it is because he is letting you have your freedom. Why, I don't know."

"Where can we find the master? And my friend, Masako, where is she being held?" Mai said urgently. "If you know you must tell me, please!"

One by one the sisters shook their heads. "That we don't know, love."

"The master is never at the same place twice. Very difficult to track, that one."

"He always knows, he's always watching."

"He knows about everything that happens in this town."

"He probably even knows that you're here with us."

"He even knew when that trio came into town a few days ago."

"Oh, yes, yes, I hear he was furious at them for what they did."

Mai's ears perked up. "The trio? You mean the ones who set up those cameras?"

As one all four sisters leaned in closer. "Yes, the same trio."

"The master thought to draw the trio out again but only one of them showed up."

"Naru," Mai breathed. "Why? For what purpose? From what I hear your master already destroyed those cameras."

"Don't underestimate the master. He wasn't too pleased at the invasion of his privacy. He won't rest until he has all three of them."

"Unfortunate for the one who brought others with him."

"The master wasn't happy about that either. Neither was Maverick. Makes his job more difficult, doesn't it?"

"Perhaps that's why they're all still alive?"

"So then why did he take Masako if he was after Naru?" Mai asked.

"Maverick says they are not directly related. The master has a type and she fit the bill. He likes girls who already look like dolls. Makes his exchange easier."

"Ex-exchange?" Mai asked hollowly. "What do you mean? What does he want with her?"

"What do you think?"

"That's a dumb question, Mai, when you already know what the master loves to do."

"We're proof of that, aren't we?"

Suddenly getting Masako back beat the priority of solving this case.

 **Thanks for reading :)**


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